00:14Menachem Begin was born in Brest-Litovsk, Poland on the 16th of August 1913, son of Zeew Dov and
00:27Harsier Begin. Until the age of 13 he belonged to the Harshamer Hatsaer Scout movement and
00:34at the age of 16 joined Beytar, the nationalist youth movement associated with the Zionist
00:41Revisionist movement. In 1932 he became head of the Organization Department for Beytar for
00:48Poland, traveling on its behalf throughout the country and contributing many articles
00:54to the Revisionist press. He was sent to Czechoslovakia to head the movement there.
01:02In 1937 he returned to Poland and for a time was imprisoned for leading a demonstration in
01:08front of the British legation in Warsaw, protesting against British policy in Palestine. He organized
01:15groups of Beytar members who went to Palestine as illegal immigrants and in 1939 became the
01:23head of the movement in Poland. On the outbreak of World War II he was arrested by the Russian
01:29authorities and in 1940-1941 was confined in concentration camps in Siberia and elsewhere but was released
01:39under the terms of the Stalin-Sikorsky agreement. On his release he joined the Polish army and was
01:46transferred to the Middle East. After demobilization in 1943 he assumed command of the Irgun Tzwa'i Leumi
01:54National Military Organization, known by the initials of its Hebrew name as Etzel. In this capacity he directed
02:03Etzel's operations against the British and the Palestine government offered a reward of £10,000 for information leading to his arrest but he evaded
02:12capture by living in disguise in Tel Aviv.
02:19In 1947 he met in secret with several members of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine as well as the foreign press to explain the outlook of his movement.
02:31After the establishment of the State of Israel he founded the Herut Movement together with his colleagues and headed the party's list of candidates for the Knesset.
02:39He has been a member of the Knesset since the first elections. On June 1, 1967 Mr. Begin joined the Government of National Unity in which he served as Minister without portfolio until August 4, 1970.
03:00On June 20, 1977 Mr. Minahem Begin, head of the Likud party, after having won the Knesset elections on May 17, 1977, presented the new government to the Knesset and became Prime Minister of Israel.
03:19When Israel's Prime Minister Begin came to Oslo to receive the Peace Prize there were such violent demonstrations against him that the award ceremony had to be moved to Ekeshu's fortress.
03:32Begin shared the Peace Prize with Egypt's President Enwar Sadat for the peace treaty concluded between Israel and Egypt.
03:41The so-called Camp David Accords were negotiated under pressure from US President Jimmy Carter.
03:51Begin's decision to resign as Prime Minister of Israel in September 1983 brought to an end a major era in Israeli politics.
04:01It was a shock to Israelis despite Begin's earlier statements that he would retire from politics at age 70.
04:09Begin apparently believed that he could no longer perform his tasks as he felt he ought to.
04:15Plus he seemed to be deeply affected by both the death of his wife the previous year and by the continuing losses of Israeli forces in Lebanon.
04:26Begin spent most of the remaining years in his apartment and was seldom seen in public.
04:32often he left home only to attend memorial services for his wife or to visit the hospital.
04:38He died of complications from a heart attack on March the 9th 1992 in Jerusalem.
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